Fix Your Sink

Okay, not quite a FlyLady suggestion, but when your sink sucks as much as mine did, it's hardly worth shining the darn thing. So I did the only thing I could do. Changed out the faucet. I ended up driving to the nearest Lowe's (25 miles away). Because we live in a manufactured home...

...you can't just buy any faucet and hook it up. I won't go into detail about all the details... what I ended up doing was buying a faucet which I didn't like. I've been really, really wanting a hi-rise faucet. I was sure it would make washing the half gallon jars and milk buckets easier. The one I ended up buying had one handle, like the last one. The reason I bought another one with one handle is because the salesclerk told me that was my only choice. He said if I was using a one handled faucet already, then that meant my sink had only two holes. He said I'd need a sink with three holes in order to use a two handled faucet. I don't know how many holes are in the sink so I believed him when he told me mine had only two holes (since my original faucet had only one handle). I know this is probably really confusing.

See, the hi-rise faucets with two handles were cheaper than the hi-rise faucets with only one handle. For example, I could get a one handled regular faucet for $42 or a two handled hi-rise faucet for $48. Or if I wanted a hi-rise faucet with two handles, it would be more like $60. I was willing to deal with two handles for the hi-rise spout.

So I bought the faucet, then got out to the truck and looked in the box. Also called home to see if ds2 could look and see how many holes were in the sink. As I looked at the faucet again, I realized that it was going to need THREE holes in the sink to hook up correctly. Within minutes, ds2 confirmed for me that the sink has three holes, plus one more for the soap dispenser. I also decided to replace the drains. The old ones were plastic. One was white, one was grey. I bought stainless steel replacements. They were $6.95 each. They are beautiful, commercial grade and the stopper fits in their so perfectly and they match!! For years we have had to use a flat lid type "stopper" instead of the kind you put into the hole.

The last faucet had a sprayer, which was nice for the couple weeks that it actually worked. This would have also increased the price of the faucet, if I wanted a sprayer, so I decided that wasn't important either. The hi-rise feature of the spout was the most important thing!

Once I realized that the salesclerk had given me incorrect information, I decided to go back into the store and talk to the older man who worked in that area. He said the younger man had given me wrong information, and thanked me for telling him because he needed to know that the younger man didn't know that, so he could teach him.

I ended up buying the two handled hi-rise faucet that I'd wanted in the first place. I kept the other one and took both home. As I suspected, ds2 liked the hi-rise faucet better. So we tried to hook it up. Only because we live in a manufactured home it wasn't possible. See, our plumbing is made of this specialty stuff called Quest. The fittings don't always work with regular plumbing replacement.

This time I took the old faucet with me, so I could show the guy at Lowe's exactly what I needed to make things hook up. I wasn't able to talk to the same guy, he was off for the day 20 minutes before I got back to the store, but he told me to look for another guy wearing shorts and who was bald. Paul was his name. I found him and explained my problem, and sharing that we lived in a manufactured home. At first he said they didn't have anything that would work. At that point, I pointed out that the faucet I was holding in my hand had been purchased from Walmart less than a year ago, and was not original to the manufactured home. Sometimes people hear "manufactured home" and they won't go on from there. I was very patient and asked him if there wasn't something I could use, with a connector piece or something. So finally he started to think outside the box and found a solution for me. It cost just under $9 for the new connection pieces. I needed two "Reinforced PVC Faucet Connectors" 1/2" FIP Inlet x 1/2" FIP Outlet 20 inches (iow, both ends were female). I didn't need 20" but apparently that's the only size this particular connector comes in, at least from Lowe's. I also needed two nipples, both ends male.

Then back home again. I hadn't eaten since breakfast and I was experiencing low blood sugar and was feeling shaky and very grumpy. Ds2 was helping me. Note to self: When you set out on a home improvement project, don't assume you have all the necessary items, even when you see them before your eyes. For example, the plumber's putty... we almost didn't have enough, and it was almost too hard to work with. Had it been any harder, we'd have been in trouble. The other thing was teflon tape. I found a container of it, under the sink. When ds2 opened it to wrap the threads, there was only a few tangled threads left on the roll.

Thank goodness we had more out in the toolboxes. Whew. I was not interested in another trip into town to finish this project!! I would have had no choice though, since we don't have a turnoff under the kitchen sink! We have to turn off the water to the entire house. Dh told me he hasn't had a chance to hook up a turn off valve.

Finally, ds2 and I got the sink puttied, screwed together and back in place.

Next I got the sink clips that we'd bought a few weeks ago. The final step. Secure the sink into place. Sorry it wouldn't be that simple! The ones were bought were for a different kind of sink. I don't know where to get the ones we need. I might need to go to someplace that specializes in plumbing supplies, like Evergreen. Because Home Depot only had one type of sink clips. They won't work for our sink, because our sink doesn't have a rim around the bottom for the sink clips to hook onto.

Anyway, we finally got the whole thing back together. I washed milk buckets tonight and jars and some other dishes and it was really great to have so much room to work, instead of having to try fitting everything under the sink faucet.

Later on FlyLady insisted I clean the kitchen, so to humor her and myself, I washed one sinkful of dishes, and shined my sink. I know that I'm supposed to take it slow getting started with FL, and I'm sure she's assuming my kitchen is clean except for the dinner dishes. Not hardly. It was WONDERFUL washing dishes with the hi-rise faucet! Seriously! Usually I'm having to hold things so low under the faucet to rinse them.

Today I plan to work some more on that kitchen sink. My next goal is to take down that filthy kitchen curtain and wash it. The window sill needs washing, and so does the window. I also want to clean under the sink again. Most of the stuff under there previously was garbage. Oh, the cabinet doors in front of the sink... one fell off a few months ago. I don't even know where it's at. I removed the other one altogether, plus the framing. I think I will look into buying a matching kitchen curtain to just cover the under sink area, instead of trying to put the cabinet doors back on. My kitchen is sort of falling apart. At least three drawers are hard to open and close.

Until next time.